Ship construction



April 28' 1931 w. F. FLETCHER 1,803,104

SHIP CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 22, 1929 FIGC I Fil F. FLETcH 20 wtf D tu Patented Apr. 28, 19371 Urn saras- WILLIAM F. FLETCHER, F MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA SHIP CONSTRUCTION i Applcationled January 22, 1929. Serial No. 334,273.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in ship construction and the obj ect of the invention is to provide a ship or vessel which will facilitate the handling,

transportation and discharging of pulp wood or any other commodity of a floatingnature which will not be damaged by water.

Another object is to provide a vessel for transporting a cargo which will be supported by its own buoyancy.

A further object is to provide a vessel having means for assisting the discharge ofpulp Fwood or such like floatable cargo.

A still further object is to provide a vessel of the class stated which may be quickly con-- verted into one of the general cargo-carrying type.

According to my invention, I provide a vessel preferably of the flat bottom type and open at the stern. The sides and bottom of the vessel are preferably made of the double type to provide buoyancy tanks. The engine room is preferably positioned at the bow. The space between the sides which forms the hold is divided into a plurality of compartments by gates which extend transversely of the vessel. These gates are of the two-part type hingedly attached to the sides and means are provided for swinging or hinging them into the closed or open positions. y

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form of my invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation o-f a ship constructed according to my invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the ship shown in Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates the hull of the vessel, havinga double bottom 12, and sides 13 and 14 terminating at one end in the bow 15. The engine room 16, store rooms 17, chain locker 18, and rooms 19, for crew accommodation are formed in the fore part of the vessel. The bridge may also be positioned at this point. The sides of the vessel are spaced from one another at the stern 20, leaving a space which is open to the water. The-sides are made of plates spaced from one another to form buoyancy tanks 21. The bottom which is also buoyancy tanks.

,the ballast tanks.

formed of spaced plates formed into'chambers y is used as fuel tanks, feed water tanks and The space between the sides is used as a cargo carrying space and may be divided into a plurality of compartments by means of the gates 22. These gates are-'55 hingedlyv attached to the sides and suitable mechanism 23 is provided for opening and closing same. Flooding valves 24 may be provided in the bottom tanks for the purpose hereinafter described. Extending upwardly v from the side decks 25 is the structure 26A which is used for confining the cargo. whichV is piled above the deck to the cargo space.

Flooding valves 27 may also be positioned above the kwater line and these valves may '65 be brought below the water levelv when it is desiredv to make use of them. This is accomplished by filling in some of the buoyancy tanks. The gates may be made watertight so that the vessel may be used for carrying any class of cargo.

In operation, pulp wood or such like cargo of a floatable nature is placed into the cargo space. It will be readily seen that the buoyancy of the cargo will tend to support itself within the hold or cargo space, and that the ship sides and bottom are only used for confining the cargo to the cargo space. To increase the carrying capacity of the ship the draft of the ship may be altered by operating The cargo may be discharged by opening the gates and iiooding the cargo carrying spaces or holds and any pressure applying means may be used to separate the logs of pulp wood. The pressure applying means may consist of a plurality of inclined nozzles 29, through which water or otherfluids is forced under pressure to assist in loosening up andl discharging the cargo. By providing an extra pair of watertight gates at the stern, the hold maybe closed, pumped dry and the vessel usedfor carryinggeneral cargo.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

. A vessel of the character described comprising a hull divided into buoyancy tanks enclosing a. hold, said hold being open at one end, gates for closing said end, valves in the bottom of thevhull and in the sides thereof for No my hand.

WILLIAM F. FLETCHER. 

